A/N: Ok, so this chapter is shorter than I wanted, but I didn't want to go into anything else yet and nothing really fit here. Hope you like it so far. Tell me what you think with a review, it will make my day, I promise!

Disclaimer: I own this laptop. Well actually the credit card that I bought it with does, but that's just a technicality right? SM's characters, not mine.

Chapter 3: The Man in the Window

BPOV

The rest of the weekend was spent arranging the apartment. Everything we ordered arrived on Saturday, and the place was starting to look like a home. Jasper and I had gone out to get groceries and essentials after the last of the boxes were unpacked, and some normalcy was starting to set in. It was nice to have some food in the house so we didn't have to go out for all of our meals -- I did enough of that on book tours and was ready for a home cooked meal.

Jasper was in seventh heaven when I made him Mama's recipe for fried chicken, green bean casserole and mashed potatoes. It was good. I am queen for the day.

Alice came over on Saturday and Sunday and helped me organize the kitchen and bathrooms. She had a knack for design and really made us feel at home fast. Her and Jasper were pretty chummy with each other, and it didn't take me long to realize that they made a good couple. And don't think for one second that I didn't notice all the times that Jasper needed her help in his bedroom. I knew exactly what he needed her help with.

Alice and I had a lot in common and I could see her becoming a great friend. I soon found out that she had a shopping fetish and had our apartment decked to the nine in a matter of days. The little pixie was seriously crack on fucking wheels with the way she shopped and found every single sale in the mall.

I didn't usually keep a lot of people close in my life, especially girlfriends. It had always been just Jazz and me. My mom left my dad and I when I was just a baby, and I haven't seen her in years. She would come around every now and then, but didn't make any effort to get to know me. So really, the only constant female figure in my life had been Mama Whitlock. She wasn't much of a shopper, but she was a great friend. My dad Charlie died in the line of fire when I was 16, and after a beautiful service for him, Mama Whitlock took me in.

Mama treated me like I was her daughter, and I finally felt like I had a mother figure. Living with Charlie for so long had made me a tomboy and I desperately needed someone to show me the ropes on how to be girly. Because living with your cop dad, there obviously weren't a whole lot of tea parties and dress up.

Charlie's passing was also the start of the dark years. I had no family left, and all I wanted was to feel loved. Jasper and I had a group of friends we hung out with in high school but lost touch with them quickly knowing that it was safer for us to not mix friends into my fucked-up life.

Unfortunately for me, I didn't see Edward for the rest of the weekend. Well, not for long at least. Alice said that he had a lot of work to do at the shop as they had been down an artist for the last month. I was hoping that one of these times he would show up at my door with Alice, but it never happened.

I began to dream about Edward nightly.

His piercing green eyes staring at me while he danced with me, singing in my ear, the way my body felt on fire when he touched me. His voice was heavenly, and he was the reason for the restful sleep I received night after night. I would wake with a smile on my face every morning. Jasper would just play it off as I was having some special 'alone time'.

Whatever.

Let him think what he wants, right?

This man that I barely knew was affecting me so much that it scared the hell out of me. I couldn't remember a time when a guy affected me at all.

Past relationships led me to believe that I couldn't be loved. And something about Edward made me feel whole, special, wanted, appreciated.

I had only met him once, I kept telling myself, trying to remember that I didn't really know him, and he didn't know me. But I wanted to know him.

I wanted to let him know me.

Emmett and Rosalie stopped by on Sunday and we had dinner together. I found that they'd been married for about two years and were thinking about starting a family soon. Rose had a few more big shoots coming up that she wanted to finish before 'ruining' her body as she put it. They were high school sweethearts.

Emmett was a funny shit. He'd crack jokes left and right throughout dinner, never missing a chance to make me blush, which really wasn't all that hard to do. I liked him right away. He and Jasper seemed to get along pretty well too, which was good because they would be spending so much time together at the shop. Edward popped his head in to say hi, but left right away saying he was tired.

My mind begged him to stay, but I didn't want to push him.

Monday came around and I began working and doing research on my new book. Jasper went into the shop for his first day, wanting me to come with, but I didn't want to invade his space, or Edward's. Jasper pleaded with me to go with him, not wanting to leave me by myself, but I promised him I wouldn't go out and if I did I would call.

Jasper called me every hour on the hour when he was gone. I kept to my word and let him know if I was going anywhere, but that didn't mean he let up at all with the protective brother act. I thought it was sweet the first few times, but eventually got annoyed with the constant calls making me feel like I was being babysat.

The next two weeks went by just like that. I worked from home for the most part, talked to Jasper every 60 minutes and Alice stopped by when she wasn't at work to hang out.

No Edward.

Alice explained that it was hard for Edward to let anyone in. Well, I shouldn't say explain, because that was basically the entire conversation, but at least I got a little insight of who he was and why he hadn't been by. I just thought that after our time together that night at Eclipse that I was the exception.

I guess not.

Each day Jasper begged me to come with him to the shop, but I declined saying that I wanted to get used to the apartment and get things situated. He was afraid of me walking around the city by myself, but I assured him that I was a big girl and could take care of myself.

Well in the daylight at least. And I had my pepper spray, and learned a thing or two from my chief of police father about self defense.

I had to reason with him time and time again. This was not Texas or Chicago. There were no bad men here.

Well, I'm sure there were thousands of them, but not the two that lurked in my dreams.

I met with my editor Angela several times to get things ready for my next book signing, but otherwise kept to myself. Jasper worked a lot, wanting to pull his share of the weight, which left me to my own doings for most of the time.

I had to admit I was getting lonely, and even though Alice spent what time she had available with me, I really needed to start getting out.

I needed something more to do. I came to the city to live a little and so far had onlyseen a whole lot of the 4 walls that I called my home.

Jasper and I decided to do some sight seeing the second weekend we were in town. Alice of course came with us, deciding that she could be our personal tour guide. She knew the city like the back of her hand. We took a ferry to the Statue of Liberty, shopped on 5th Avenue, and ended the day going to Central Park. I loved Central Park and hoped that some day I would get married here, horse drawn carriage and all. It had been a dream of mine since I was a little girl.

Jazz and Alice wanted to take a carriage ride and urged me to go with. I declined, not wanting to be the odd man out. I chose instead to meet up with them afterwards and walked down the block to a coffee shop.

I grabbed a cup of coffee and pushed myself down into a comfy chair near the front window with my tattered copy of Wuthering Heights. I'd read the thing at least a hundred times and knew it by heart, but continued reading it over and over again as it was my favorite book of all time. It was comforting.

I had been reading for about half an hour when I got the feeling I was being watched. I didn't know why, but I did.

I could feel eyes on me and, at first, I thought maybe I was just being ridiculous, but the feeling didn't go way. My stomach churned at the thought that someone was watching me.

Nervously I looked up to see a man glaring at me from outside the window. I blinked my eyes a few times, thinking that my mind was playing games with me.

Unfortunately, they weren't.

There stood a tall, buff man with blonde hair pulled back in a ponytail that I would recognize anywhere.

Then I met his eyes.

Those familiar eyes.

It can't be James, I told myself. He hadn't attempted contact in at least a year.

My mind must be playing tricks on me, I thought. He didn't know about our move to New York.

No one knew of our move.

In fact the only people that knew about us relocating were Mama Whitlock and my editor. We kept our phones unlisted and didn't make a big show of moving. That was another reason why we didn't bring much with us. Just in case we were spotted.

I shook my head and rubbed my eyes trying to relieve them of the fog that was settling in and glanced back out the window at the man to see if it was all just a dream. I didn't want to see his eyes glaring at me again, but I had to know for sure if what I was seeing was true.

When I looked up, he was gone.

My heart rate picked up and I could feel my stomach drop.

It's all in your head Bella. I repeated that sentence over and over again, hoping that I would finally start to believe the words. James doesn't know where you are, and you're safe.

For the next hour I sat trying to convince myself that I wasn't the seventeen-year-old little girl that he remembered.

I was stronger now. Four years of counseling made me stronger.

He was never going to hurt me again.

I hadn't realized that I pulled myself into a ball until the boy behind the counter came over and placed his hand on my shoulder, most likely to make sure that I was all right. I reacted like I always did when someone touched me and slapped his hand away.

By the way he looked at me, it was a little harder of a slap than I thought.

I silently said I was sorry hoping that I didn't look too crazed.

The poor boy couldn't have been more than sixteen and was just trying to see if I was okay. I left a generous tip on the table in front of me, disposed of my trash and nervously left the coffee shop.

I didn't know where to go or what to do, it had gotten dark and I didn't know my way around the city yet. I wondered if he was still out here. I looked around in each direction but saw no one.

I glanced down at my phone and realized that I had ten missed calls. Peeking at the time, I saw that it had been more than an hour that I spaced out.

It was now close to 10pm, and Alice and Jasper left me at 6pm.

I picked up my phone and dialed Jasper knowing that he was probably freaking out over my absence.

He picked up on the first ring.

"Bell!" He let out a big breath of air. "Where the HELL are you? I've been calling you for the past couple of hours and you haven't picked up your damn phone! I'm going insane over here!"

"Jazz, calm down. I'm fine," I said trying to convince myself too. "I got caught up reading a book at the coffee shop by the park, and I guess I lost track of time. I'm on my way home right now."

"No!" he yelled. "Stay where you are and I'll come and get you. I'll be there in a few minutes. You're not walking home alone in the dark. Tell me where you're at and I'll come get you."

"Jasper, really, I can just walk home. I think it's only a few blocks." I looked around at my surroundings and realized I didn't know exactly where home was now that the adrenaline had worn off a little.

And it was dark.

Not my favorite time to be walking home.

"Okay, never mind. Come and get me." I told him the name of the coffee shop and I could hear Alice in the background giving him directions.

10 minutes later Jasper and Alice pulled up in his truck and we made our way home. I apologized for being a flake and excused myself saying I was tired and went for my room before anything could be said.

Jasper gave me a glance silently telling me he knew something more was going on, but didn't push it. I think that Alice had something to do with his calmness, as usually I would have gotten quite a lecture for just disappearing for so long.

As strong as I had felt over the past few years, I suddenly felt like I was that seventeen-year-old girl living in Texas, watching, waiting to see what I had done wrong this time and how he was going to 'handle' it.

That was the only time I left by myself for the next week, even though there was nothing to do at the apartment. Jasper and Alice had to work and I wasn't going to become an inconvenience in their lives.

The apartment was huge, but I started to feel like I was suffocating with no way out.

I had to get over this fear so that I could start living my life.

A/N: So the next chapter is Bella and Edward. And maybe a taste of future lemonade. I'm still going strong pumping out the chapters. Plan to update VERY soon. R&R please!